Hello there,

I am interested in starting a new community site.

Features i want it to have:

- News
- Videos
- Forum
- Games
- Chat
- Blog/Profile for each user (like hi5/myspace with pics/comments etc)

I am thinking to get vbulletin + vbadvanced cmps but i am not sure if those 2 together can do the job and the features i want..

Maybe i should get and vbadvanced dynamics?

Any idea?

Maybe i should get the IPBoard? which has the IP Gallery and IP Blog as extras and persuade all of them?

Any idea of other softwares that combine all these features in one?

Thanks

IP Gallery would be better as it not as widely used and u could make it look really good and different, which helps quite a bit those days.

those i am metnioning IPboard (with extras) or vBulletin (with extras) can create a community with the features i am mentioning right?

any free options? because those 2 are paid ones..

Well, phpBB is a free board and their v3 release looks nice. However, they seem to be releasing security updates all the time and so many exploits have scared me away from them. I have both a vBulletin and IPB license. I really cannot say which one is better, but I am leaning towards vBulletin with the upcoming release of 3.7, so many nice new features. :)

I would recommend SMF

thanks for advices and info.

i dont want just to have a forum and some extras.. i want the news the chat, videos/music/photos.. profile etc.. so from my experience that is not possible with smf..

i found dolphin (boonex.com) which is free and some other like it. Anyone have used them?

Perhaps you can consider having a drupal for building your community site, that should be able to cover the user manangement, news, photos (gallery 2 intergration possible), video, user blog etc., and if the forum option in drupal is not meeting your expectations, you can get a vb license and have it run separately.

If you want something different and 'unique' getting something FREE is not the way to go (if you want to be successful) as everyone will have done the same thing, and it will look EXACTLY the same.

You will want to invest in something, which if you play your cards right, will generate cash for you.

-Benji

Benji - ASM can you eloborate a bit on that? I dont have problem to spend some money.. for example vbulletin costs 160$ which is not that much money.. However even with vbulletin there are thousands forums/sites using it.. so isnt it about the same?

To which aspects do you believe i should invest? - contact me private if you wish or you have experience on these fields..

Oh and also for how much space we are talking about? Ok yes i have dedicated server but would it be enough for 1000 users? 160GB is ok? (dolphin for example has photo/video uploads.. blogs etc.. how much space do i need?)..

Also with vbulletin? how much space/cpu/ram i need for lets say 1000 reg users and about 100-200online the same time..

Your first question:

vBulletin (for example) is spottable a mile off.
Something custom built makes it look more professional, smart and personal, instead of just some 'revenue machine'. If you pay an indian co to do it, you could probably get it for $500-$1000, it may seem a lot, but consider it an investment!

160gbs for ~1000 uploading videos probably wont be enough, if the average video is about 25-50mb

At 50mb thats around 3230 videos, so a bit more than 1 per user

Contact me on msn if you want to talk more :)

-Benji